NBA Changes Alignment of Teams; Breaks East and West Into Three Divs. Each

AP ^

[GulliverSwift]

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA's board of governors approved a realignment plan Monday that creates three divisions of five teams each in the Eastern and Western conferences.

The expansion Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA's 30th team, were placed in the Eastern Conference and the New Orleans Hornets were moved to the Western Conference. The Hornets previously played in Charlotte before moving to New Orleans two seasons ago.

Joining the new Charlotte franchise in the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference will be Atlanta, Miami, Orlando and Washington. The Central Division will have Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indiana and Milwaukee. Atlantic Division teams will be Boston, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia and Toronto.

New Orleans will play in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference with Dallas, Houston, Memphis and San Antonio. The Northwest Division will have Denver, Minnesota, Portland, Seattle and Utah. The Pacific Division teams are Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix and Sacramento.

Teams will play divisional opponents twice at home and twice on the road. They will play conference opponents outside their division three or four times, and teams from the other conference twice -- at home and away.

Divisional winners each earn a playoff berth. The remaining five playoff berths for each conference will be based on regular-season records with no regard to divisional alignment.

Home-court advantage throughout the playoffs will be based solely on regular-season records. That means a divisional winner will not necessarily have home court advantage in the playoff series.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

The only two rookies I can remember coming in and instantly turning their teams around, and holding up through the playoffs were Magic and the Basketball Jesus himself. ;^)

[GulliverSwift]

Well, judging from the audience I saw in the game from ESPN's clip, I guess nobody knew.

[GulliverSwift]

Well, if you're talking about M. Jordan, his team was not turned around instantly. It was actually when his scoring average came down that his team started being successful.

Sounds like the rapist from last year in LA, who put up multiple 50 and 40-point games but the team still lost.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Kobe seemed to be an ideal citizen until recently...

[AdA$tra]

Now if they can boost the quality of game-play, then we might have something to work with...

Shorten the season. Change the rules back to something more like NCAA or int'l rules. Zone defense should be allowed. Yes, it "slows" down the game, but it is also a valid strategy for a team that is not quite equiped to run the floor. Kansas State under Hartman and Krueger won games in the dance by slowing down opponents and hitting them with a smaller three guard offense.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Blaspheme! The Basketball Jesus is none other than Larry Bird! I think the Celtics won about 25 games the year before he arrived in Boston, and then had the best record in the Conference his rookie season, making it to the conference finals before Dr. J and the Sixers beat them.

[Mr. Mojo]

Kobe seemed to be an ideal citizen until recently...

And so did O.J. (up until '94).

[AdA$tra]

Most rookies can't handle the 82 game season.

Yeah, but Lebron's a stud. He has the physical maturity of a twenty-five-year-old.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Well, that was certainly a mistake.

Said with my tongue planted firmly in cheek, of course. I don't agree with much that Bob Knight ever said but he's got the right idea about the NBA.

"If the NBA was on Channel 4 and a bunch of frogs making love was on Channel 5, I'd watch the frogs, even if they came in fuzzy."

Now that is lucid. :)

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yeah, but OJ waited until his career was over before showing his deviant side.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Remember when Pippen tried to imitate Knight's infamous chair toss -- and lost the fight with the chair? :)

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I think we're all being a little harsh on OJ. After all he is scouring all of the golf courses in south Florida, looking for the real killer. ;^)

[GulliverSwift]

Bobby Knight likes college ball more because the coach can have more dominating controll over young college kids. In the NBA the coach has to deal with grown men (at least physically) who hook up with women in every hotel in the country.

He'd hate that lack of control, naturally. And if he tried to choke someone with his creaky old arms, he'd get pounded and would feel it for days afterward.

[Colonel_Flagg]

Yes. Rule number one: when you pick a fight, make sure you can win :)

[Colonel_Flagg]

I agree, and I sure don't defend his actions since I think he's a big blowhard myself. But it still doesn't change the premise of either his point or mine - I don't care for today's NBA.

[NYC GOP Chick]

And now he's helping turd salesman extraordinaire Scott Peterson search for his wife and son's killers...

[NYC GOP Chick]

He was certainly outclassed intellectually there, wasn't he? :)

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Pippen is exhibit A of why I don't care for the NBA anymore. When Jordan was in town, he sulked about not being the main man. When Jordan "retired" for two years(I still think he was suspended for his gambling, and Dave Stern and the league covered it up), he sulked in the playoffs and wouldn't leave the bench when his team needed him. So much for being the main man.

[NYC GOP Chick]

You are preaching to the choir. Back in the mid-90s, there was a guy on AOL who ran a Pippen Wuss website. Damn funniest thing I'd seen. It totally parodied him as the whiny bitch that he is. :)

[GulliverSwift]

I don't care for today's NBA.

If you see the quality NBA teams, they are far superior to the quality teams of college-- as far as purity of execution.

If Lebron James fails, that would be great for the league. I'm sick of these dunking %$@$%, and I hope everybody else gets tired of them as well. But dunks don't win championships, and are worth only two points.

The Mavs, however much I can't stand them, executed well last year. Although not well enough when things got tough. But they did show excellant play, and I would much rather watch them or some other Western teams than watch "number 1" Connecticut. These rankings are absurd, of course. Another childish aspect of the NCAA.